How to pronounce the Portuguese footballers' names

In preparation for the Nations League final, here’s a brief attempt to try and illustrate how to pronounce the Portuguese player’s names - somewhat more accurately, at least!

Starting with the goalkeepers:

Rui Patricio - Rroo-ee Pa-tree-see-ooh

Rui is pretty self-explanatory, although it’s quite difficult to explain how to say the ‘r’ sound if you can’t roll your R’s. For Patricio, think of it as ‘pat’ followed by the boy’s name “Rhys”, then the “ee” from see and then the word “you”. The just put it all together and say it fast!

Beto - Bet-oo

Nice easy one here. it is the word ‘bet’ followed by the ‘oo’ sound from ‘who’.

Jose Sa - shj-oo-zeh Sa

For Jose, it is the “s” from pleasure (almost that ‘sh’ sound), followed by ‘oo’ from who’, then the ‘se’ from ‘send’. For Sa, it’s the ‘sa’ from ‘Sally‘.

Moving onto the defenders:

Pepe - Pep.

It’s just Pep. As in, the first three letters, or the first syllable, of “pepper”. Pep.

Ruben Dias - Roo-bn Deey-ush

Again, difficult to explain how to properly pronounce the “R” of Ruben if you don’t know hoe to roll your R’s. So the best we can do is think of it as the “Roo” from ‘Root‘, followed by the ‘bn’ sound from “banana”. For Dias, think of it as “Dee” from ‘deep’ followed by ‘ush’, where the ‘sh’ is the 's' from pleasure (almost that 'sh' sound).

Jose Fonte - Shj-oo-zay Font.

For Jose, it is the “s” from pleasure (almost that ‘sh’ sound), followed by ‘oo’ from who’, then the ‘se’ from ‘send’. For Fonte, it is literally the word “font”. As in, a text’s font.

Raphael Guerreiro - Raphael Guh-rey-roo

Raphael is pretty much the same as in English, although ultimately it again comes down to the rolling of the “R” at the start. For Guerreiro, it’s “gur” from “girl”, followed by the word “ray”, as in ‘rayfish’, followed by ‘roo’ from ‘root’.

Mario Rui - Mah-ree-ooh Roo-wee

Perhaps surprisingly, I would say this is the hardest one to describe how to say - and again, it’s because of those pesky “Rs”. So this is not a particularly helpful illustration of how to say ‘Mario Rui’ but we’ll do our best. For Mario, it’s (almost) the ‘ma’ from ‘map’, followed by the ‘ree’ sound from ‘really’ and then the ‘oo’ from ‘who’. For Rui, think of it as ‘roo’ from ‘root’ and the "‘ee’ from ‘sleep’.

João Cancelo - Shj-oo-ow Can-sell-oo

For his first name, it's the 's' from 'pleasure', followed by the 'oo' sound from ''who', followed by the 'ou', from ‘ouch’. For Cancelo, it’s the word “Can” followed by the word “sell” followed by the ‘oo’ sound from ‘who’.

Nelson Semedo - Nel-sn Suh-meh-doo

Nelson is self explanatory, although for full authenticity, just don’t put any emphasis on the ‘o’ (so it’s more like Nel-sn). For Semedo, it’s the ‘suh’ sound from ‘son’ followed by the word “meh” and then the ‘doo’ sound from “doom”.

And the midfielders…

Ruben Neves - Roo-bn Nevsh

“Roo” from ‘Root‘, followed by the ‘bn’ sound from “banana”. For Neves, it’s basically Nevsh - as in, the ‘nev’ from ‘never’ quickly followed by ‘sh’.

Danilo Pereira - Da-ni-loo Pu-ray-ruh

Danilo is pretty much self explanatory; it’s the ‘da’ from ‘Dan’, followed by the ‘ni’ sound from ‘nil’, and then the word ‘loo’. For Pereira, it’s the ‘pu’ from ‘punch’, followed by the word “ray” and then the ‘ru’ from ‘rust.’

João Moutinho = Shj-oo-ow Mow-teen-yhoo.

For his first name, it's the 's' from 'pleasure', followed by the 'oo' sound from ''who', followed by the 'ou', from “ouch”. For his surname, it's the word ‘mow’ (as in to mow the lawn), followed by the word 'teen' and then the word 'you'.

William Carvalho - Will-ee-um curr-val-yhoo

Quite easy to explain this one too. First name is close to English, though you should extend the second 'i' in William more to make a longer 'ee' sound followed by the 'um' from 'hum'.   For Carvalho, it's basically the 'cur' from 'curse' followed by the word 'value'.

Pizzi - Pih-see

Pizzi almost sound like ‘busy’. It’s the ‘pi’ from ‘pink’, followed by the word “see”.

Bruno Fernandes - Brew-noo Fur-nan-dsh

For Bruno, it’s basically the word “brew” followed by the sound ‘noo’, where the ‘oo’ sound like that from ‘oops’.” For Fernandes, it’s the ‘fur’ sound from “firm'“, followed by the word “nan”, then it's a dsh sound. So 'd' from 'done' quickly followed by the 'sh' from 'shoot'. Fur-nan-dsh.

And the forwards:

Bernardo Silva - Bur-nar-doo Sil-vah

For Bernardo, it’s the ‘bur’ sound from “burn”, followed by ‘nar’ (ie ‘n’ followed by the ‘ar’ sound from ‘arm’), followed by ‘doo’ from “doom”.  For Silva, it’s basically the same as in English (Silver).

Diogo Jota = Dee-o-goo shjota

For Diogo, it’s the 'dee' from 'indeed' , the 'o' from “hot”, followed by ‘goo’, where the ‘oo’ is the sound from ‘oops’. His surname is the 's' from pleasure (almost that 'sh' sound), followed by the word ‘otter’.

And here are some bonus names of players that weren’t included in the squad:

Gonçalo Guedes = Gon-sah-loo Ge-dsh.

This one has been pronounced in so many different ways. For Gonçalo, it's almost the word 'gone', followed by the 'sal' from 'Sally', and the 'oo' from 'oops'. For Guedes, which is so commonly mispronounced, start with the 'ge' from 'get'. Then it's a dsh sound. So 'd' from 'done' quickly followed by the 'sh' from 'shoot'.  Ge-dsh.

Cristiano Ronaldo - Cris-tee-a-noo Ro-nal-doo.

For Cristiano, it’s basically the name “Chris” followed by the word “tea”, then the word “an”, and then the ‘oo’ sound from ‘oops’. For Ronaldo, it’s the ‘ro’ from the word “roll”, then ‘nal’, then the ‘doo’ from “doom”.

João Felix - Shj-oo-ow Feh-licks

For João, it's the 's' from 'pleasure', followed by the 'oo' sound from ''who', followed by the 'ou', from “ouch” For Felix, it’s ‘feh’ (as in the ‘fe’ from “fence”), followed by the word “licks”.

Dyego Sousa - Dee-yegg-oo So-suh

For Dyego, it’s the 'dee' from 'indeed', followed by ‘yegg’ and then the ‘oo’ sound from ‘oops’.  For Sousa, it’s the ‘so’ from “soap” followed by the ‘su’ from “Sun”.